Hope’s Reward

Hope's Reward cover

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and local bookstores by special order.

Must the secrets we hide destroy our hope for a future?

For a gladiator slave, each time you step on the sand, it’s kill or die. When Ursus decides to follow Jesus, he must choose to die the next time he’s ordered to fight…or run away. He runs, taking again his childhood name, Matti. But he isn’t just trying to escape. He’s running to Thessalonica, where he hopes to find other Christians like the woman who led him to faith.

When Felicia’s new husband, Falco, almost kills her in a fit of rage, her uncle won’t help her end the marriage with his business partner. He will send her to her sister in Thessalonica, but only if she tells no one she plans to divorce Falco and demand her dowry back before she gets there. When Matti interrupts a robbery too late to save Felicia’s money for traveling by sea, he offers to bodyguard and escort her overland to their mutual destination.

After Matti risks everything to save her from Falco’s assassins, Felicia fears taking the danger to her sister’s family. When his Christian friends take them in, she discovers the deepest desires of her heart. But will the secrets of Matti’s past make a future together impossible?

Light in the Empire Series: Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love

Hope’s Reward is the ninth volume in the Light in the Empire series, a mosaic of stories that follow the interconnected lives of the members of several Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. The twelve novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.

Volume 1: Forgiven
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 2: Blind Ambition
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 3: The Legacy
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 4: Faithful
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 5: Second Chances
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 6: True Freedom
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 7: Hope Unchained
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 8: Honor Bound
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Volume 10: More Than Honor
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).

Important aspects of Roman history for each can be found in the short articles at the end of each novel linked here and in longer articles in this website.

Fact and Fiction by Carol Ashby